Jessica Williams's blog

Interested in art and architecture in San Francisco? Browse through our new collections in the Humanities and Matthew Evans Resource Room on DIVA. Developed by current and former faculty members at San Francisco State University, the Robert Cherny, Matthew Evans, and Edward Kaufmann collections contain examples of art and architecture throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Check our blog next week for more highlights from our collections.

Browse through our new collection of posters from the San Francisco State College Strike, part of the San Francisco State College Strike Collection on DIVA. The collection contains 54 posters developed by faculty and students in the art department for the strike. For example, check out the following posters: American Flag and Machine, Back to Skool Week, and Relevant Education.

For more information about the San Francisco College Strike, follow this link.

Browse through our collection of more than 1,100 recordings from the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The archive features news reports, programs, documentaries, and clips recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Check out this KPIX news report on an exhibition of Japanese American internment in World War II at the California Historical Society in San Francisco. The news report features Edison Uno, former director of the historical society, speaking a press conference for the exhibition. The news report also includes historical photographs of Japanese American internment camps from the exhibition.

For more content on Japanese American internment in World War II, browse through our Japanese American Collection area of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA.

Check out this KPIX news clip of City Lights Books from the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. Founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in the 1950s, City Lights Books is an independent bookstore in San Francisco. The bookstore regularly organizes book releases, poetry readings, and community events. The clip features founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti organizing copies of Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg in front of the bookstore. Howl and Other Poems is part of the bookstore's Pocket Poet Series, featuring poets from the Beat Generation.

For more information about City Lights Books, follow this link.

Interested in the history of San Francisco? Check out this documentary on the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The documentary features archival film and photographs of San Francisco following the earthquake and fire. The documentary also contains interviews with residents of San Francisco on their experiences.

Check our blog next week for more highlights from our collections.

This Sunday is the annual Castro Street Fair in San Francisco. Founded by Harvey Milk in the 1970s, the Castro Street Fair is a community festival featuring arts and crafts, food, and entertainment. Each year more than 50,000 visitors participate in the community celebration at the intersection of Castro and Market Streets. Donations from visitors at the Castro Street Fair support community nonprofit organizations in San Francisco, including the AIDS Emergency Fund, Project Open Hand, and Visual Aid.

Check out this KPIX-TV report on the Castro Street Fair from the 1980s, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The KPIX-TV report includes scenes of the crowds at the festival, arts and crafts exhibitors, food vendors, and performers.

Browse through our collection of more than 50 recordings from the Poetry Center Digital Archive on DIVA. The Poetry Center Digital Archive currently features recordings from the 1950s by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Langston Hughes, Allen Ginsberg, and more.

For example, check out this recording by former poet laureate Philip Levine. The recording includes his poems "An Abandoned Factory, Detroit," "Night Thoughts Over a Sick Child," "Green Thumb," and "The Drunkard." His poems focus on the condition of factory workers in Detroit and are founded on his experiences working in auto manufacturing.

For more information on the Poetry Center Digital Archive, follow this link.

Check out this film on documentary photographer Dorthea Lange, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The film contains interviews with Lange on her photography of migrant farm workers for the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s. The film also includes scenes of Lange collaborating with photography curator John Szarkowski to develop a retrospective exhibition of her work at the Museum of Modern Art and reviewing her personal archive of prints and negatives.

Interested in the history of San Francisco? Check out this documentary on the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and demonstrated the recovery of San Francisco from the earthquake and fire of 1906. The documentary contains archival film of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and its attractions, including the Palace of Fine Arts, the Tower of Jewels, and the Palace of Machinery. The documentary also includes scenes of the entertainment featured at the exposition, such as parades, automobile races, horse races, and folk arts.

Check out this documentary on the San Francisco Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. Featuring archival film and photographs, the documentary focuses on the significance of the bay in historical events, including the California Gold Rush, the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, and the development of the Golden Gate Bridge. The documentary also contains interviews with local coast guardsmen, harbor pilots, and fishermen familiar with the San Francisco Bay.

Check our blog next week for more highlights from our collections.

Interested in updates from DIVA throughout the fall semester? Subscribe to our blog feed for regular updates on new features, content, and highlights from our collections. Simply follow this link to the DIVA team blog and click on “subscribe to this blog” on the right side of the page.

Check out this KRON-TV program on photographer Ansel Adams, a San Francisco native famous for his black and white photographs of the American wilderness. The program contains interviews with Adams on the influence of Yosemite National Park on his work and highlights his commitment to wilderness preservation through his involvement in the Sierra Club. The program also includes scenes of Adams photographing landscapes in Yosemite National Park, instructing students in a photography workshop, and working in his photography studio. The KRON-TV program is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA.

Check out this sculpture The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, part of the CSU World Image Archive on DIVA. Originally proposed as part of the composition of his commissioned work The Gates of Hell, Rodin transformed The Thinker into an independent work. Donated to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the sculpture is currently on view in the formal courtyard of the museum. The museum’s permanent collection contains other sculptures by Rodin, including The Three Shades and The Kiss.

Check out this KPIX-TV documentary on the transformation of the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco and the development of a hippie counterculture movement in the 1960s. The documentary features views of the Haight-Ashbury community, including the Psychedelic Bookshop, Print Mint, and Straight Theater. The KPIX-TV documentary is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA.

With the Summer Olympics finishing this week, check out this sculpture discobolos (discus thrower) on exhibit at the Vatican Museum. The sculpture is a Roman copy of an original Greek sculpture, demonstrating an athlete in motion as he prepares to release his discus throw. Similar copies of the discobolos are on view at the British Museum and the National Museum of Rome. An image of the discobolos is available to view or download through the CSU World Image Archive on DIVA.

Check our blog next week for more highlights from our collections.

Browse through our collection of more than 40,000 images from the CSU World Image Archive on DIVA. The collection is comprised of art history, political and cultural history, anthropology, biology, medicine, and technology images. Images from the collection are available to download for CSU faculty members and students for nonprofit research and instruction purposes.

For example, check out this portrait of Ginevra de Benci by Leonardo da Vinci. The portrait is currently exhibited at the National Gallery of Art and is the only painting by da Vinci on view at an American museum. The CSU World Image Archive also contains other masterpieces by da Vinci, including the paintings Mona Lisa and Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.

Check out this KRON-TV program on an exhibition of Asian art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the 1950s. The exhibition explores themes in Asian art and culture through paintings, sculptures, and textiles. The program features scenes of the artworks on view in the exhibition and interviews with the museum's founding director Grace Morley and curator John Humphrey. Within the program, Morley expresses the importance of Asian art, explaining that "it is a record of a people's past, represents their heritage, and also expresses their reaction to the present." The KRON-TV program is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA.

Last Sunday more than 15,000 people participated in the annual AIDS Walk San Francisco. Individuals and teams followed a 10 kilometer route through Golden Gate Park. This year, AIDS Walk participants developed over $2.6 million to benefit the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and HIV/AIDS programs and services throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Check out this informative KQED program on the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. The program explores the reactions and attitudes toward AIDS through interviews with AIDS patients, activists, politicians, and physicians. The program also contains scenes of protests at Civic Center and the Castro, government hearings, and speeches on AIDS. The program is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA.

Check out this KRON-TV program on the history of Golden Gate Park, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. Developed in the 1870s, Golden Gate Park encompasses more than 1000 acres extending from the Panhandle to the Pacific Ocean. Between 10 and 15 million visitors come to Golden Gate Park each year to experience its recreation areas and attractions. Over 50 percent of visitors are residents of San Francisco and 25 percent of visitors are residents of the San Francisco Bay Area. The program includes scenes of the De Young Museum, Botanical Garden, Japanese Tea Garden, Conservatory of Flowers, and other attractions. The program also contains historical photographs of Golden Gate Park.

Check our blog next week for more highlights from our collections.

To commemorate Independence Day this week, check out this painting Declaration of Independence by American artist John Trumbull, part of the CSU World Image Archive on DIVA. Declaration of Independence is from a series of paintings by Trumbull that depict historical events from the American Revolution. Commissioned by Congress in 1817, the painting is currently exhibited in the rotunda of the United States Capitol. In the foreground of the painting, political figures Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Benjamin Franklin are presenting the Declaration of Independence to Congress. Benjamin Harrison is seated on the left side of the painting and John Hancock is seated next to Charles Thomson on the right side of the painting. The CSU World Image Archive also contains other paintings by Trumbull on view in the United States Capitol, such as General George Washington Resigning his Commission and Surrender of General Cornwallis.

Interested in viewing more content from the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade? Browse through our collection of Gay Freedom Day images from the GLBT Historical Society on DIVA. The collection contains over 900 images from Gay Freedom Day, including participants marching in the parade, crowds in front of Civic Center, and figures from the GLBT community. For example, check out this series of images of Harvey Milk participating in the parade, preparing his speech, and speaking at Civic Center.

This weekend is the annual San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade in support of the GLBT community.  The theme for the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade this year is global equality and features over 200 parade contingents, 300 exhibitors, and 20 community organizations. Parade participants follow a route through downtown San Francisco, from the intersection of Market and Beale Streets to Market and 8th Streets.

Check out this KQED News report on the San Francisco Gay Freedom Parade from the 1970s, featuring participants marching in the parade and crowds formed in front of Civic Center. The KQED News report is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA.

Check our blog next week for Highlights from DIVA: San Francisco Pride Parade (Part 2).

Interested in updates from DIVA over the summer? Subscribe to our blog feed for regular updates on new features, content, and highlights from our collections. Simply follow this link to the DIVA team blog and click on “subscribe to this blog” on the right side of the page.

Check out this interesting documentary on the collections of the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The documentary features masterpieces from the museum’s permanent collection by artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco Goya, and Diego Velazquez. The documentary also includes behind the scenes views of the museum, including the installation of exhibitions and conservation of the permanent collection.

Also featured in the documentary is the Avery Brundage collection of Asian art, comprised of over 6000 objects. Originally housed at the De Young Museum, the Avery Brundage collection is currently exhibited at the Asian Art Museum in downtown San Francisco.

Interested in finding out more about the history of the Golden Gate Bridge? Check out this KPIX-TV documentary on the Golden Gate Bridge, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The documentary presents a detailed history of the Golden Gate Bridge through interviews with the workers involved in its construction. The documentary also contains original footage of the construction of the bridge from the 1930s.

Last weekend marked the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge. The iconic landmark spans 1.7 miles from the San Francisco peninsula to the Marin headlands. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy sponsored the Golden Gate Festival on Sunday. The festival featured entertainment and events on the San Francisco waterfront and at community organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Check out this KPIX-TV program on the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, part of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on DIVA. The program features scenes from the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, interviews with residents and tourists, and coverage of the festivities.

Check our blog next week for Highlights from DIVA: Golden Gate Bridge (Part 2).